What if?
by spkpoet
Summary: What if James and Lily didn't die? What if Riddle never went bad? Okay, I know there are a lot of stories like this, and it would change a lot more than we give credit for, but I wanted to see where this took me.
1. Chapter 1

_**(A/N: Disclaimer: I own only the basic plot, all characters in this chapter and their names belong to J.K. Rowling)**_

James quietly watched his girlfriend play with her hair as she read a book by the fire. Lily hadn't heard the portrait hole open, so she continued to read, undisturbed by her boyfriend's entrance. It wasn't until James eased himself onto the couch cushion next to her that she realized she was not alone. After a split second of shock, Lily leaned up to kiss James on the cheek. It was their usual greeting in public. (They were in the Gryffindor common room, rather than Head's common room, so there were quite a few people about.) James glanced down at the book he had interrupted Lily from reading, and saw that it was actually one of her Muggle books from home. His mind flashed back to the first time he had seen it.

_Lily glanced up from her book in puzzlement. There, outside her second story window was her new boyfriend, James. He was sitting on his broom, begging with his eyes to be allowed in. Lily got up, fully intending to open her window, when James landed, and suddenly appeared in her room. Lily whirled around in shock, laughing at the look of pure excitement on his face._

_ "I see you got past Padfoot long enough to come see me." It was Christmas holidays, so Sirius was staying at James' house for the break. Lily was smiling when James walked towards her, kissing her lightly on the lips. The book Lily had been reading dropped out of her hands and onto the hardwood floor, causing her mother to call up to her, and Petunia to walk in on them._

_ "Lily! Mother!!!" Petunia's shocked voice jarred Lily and James back to reality, quickly breaking them apart, just as both of the Evans parents walked in._

_ James quickly tried to cover up for Lily, while Lily directed a death glare at her sister. With one phrase, she silenced the hubbub of excuses. As everyone stared in amazement, Lily repeated what she said._

_ "I hate you." was all Lily had uttered. The low, fierce whisper was directed at Petunia, and although the words had often come from the latter's mouth, Lily had never said them to her. The tension had been there since Lily had hung out with Snape as a kid, but never had that phrase passed from her lips to her sister's ears. "I hate you, Petunia. By the way, mum, dad, this is James. James, my parents." Lily finished with a wave of her hand in the direction of her parents and James._

Lily and James stood up, getting ready to go to their own common room, when two of the Marauders walked in. Sirius and Remus made a beeline for James and Lily, quickly explaining that Peter had gotten caught, they had to have an MM that night, in the ROR at midnight. At that, they went up to the dorms, leaving Lily and James standing there, James with a look of exasperation and annoyance, Lily with an utterly confused look covering her features.


	2. Chapter 2

_**(A/N): Disclaimer!! I do not own characters! Merely basic plot!**_

The next morning, James quietly walked into Lily's dorm, a vase of easter lilies in his hand. They had really been just a bunch of weeds, since it was far too early in the year for lilies, let alone easter lilies, but James wasn't top in Transfiguration for nothing. He set them gently down on her nightstand, next to the picture of them from the Christmas Ball. Before leaving, James also left a note on Lily's door.

_Lilyflower,_

_Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail and I have some...business...to take care of tonight. I promise no pranks. Just please stay in the castle. I'll see you at breakfast, and I expect a promise._

_Lots of Love,_

_James_

Lily still didn't know about Remus's "furry little problem", so whenever the Marauders disappeared, James had to beg Lily not to follow them. So when Lily woke up and saw her note, she thought nothing of it. She got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall, shaking her head and wondering what those boys could be getting themselves into.

James was already downstairs, there was a Quidditch match today, so the whole team was crowded around the Marauder. Lily walked up, motioning for the team not to say or do anything to acknowlege her, and gently put her hands around James' face, blocking his vision, and waited for him to turn around and acknowlege her. He wouldn't. Lily felt his eyebrows move up, and could tell that he wanted to hear her promise before he would do anything.

"James, I promise not to leave the castle tonight without you, and I believe that you aren't pulling any pranks... this time." Lily sighed, quite exasperated with the monthly ritual. He had even come over a second time on Christmas break and made her promise not to leave her house without him until he said it was safe.

James then turned around, kissed Lily lightly on the cheek, then pulled her down onto the seat next to him. Once Lily began to get food on her plate, James turned back to his team and continued strategy. Lily rolled her eyes and began looking around. She was looking for one couple in particular: Alice and Frank.

Lily spotted Alice pretty soon, but Alice was searching the room as well, _for Frank_, Lily realized, when she didn't see her best friend's boyfriend near by. She noticed as Frank appeared, coming up unnoticed behind Alice, and giving her a quick hug and turning her around. At this point, Lily turned her attention back to the Quidditch strategies that her own boyfriend was discussing.

All of the sudden, Lily felt another pair of arms encircle her shoulders. Looking up, she saw Remus smiling down at her, the way an older brother often (once they finally get over a few issues) will look at their younger sister. Behind Remus, Lily saw Sirius, who had a very mischevious grin on his face as he leaned down to hug Lily and tease James.

Remus sat down next to Lily, whereas Sirius picked the other side of James to sit on. He began to throw his opinion into the discussion as well. Remus was quieter than usual that morning. Lily liked the quiet though, it was rather a calming sound from the usual noise coming from James and Sirius when Sirius came to the Head's common room.

Lily had leaned against Remus when he was situated. Remus in turn put his arm around Lily's shoulders once more. He could tell something was on her mind. When James glanced over and saw the position, his first emotion was jealousy, but he quickly reminded himself that Remus was like an older brother to Lily. He thought back to all of the discussions the two of them had that ended up focusing on Remus. There was no missing the adoration in Lily's voice when she spoke of the brother figure in her life, but there was no missing that the relationship was no more than brother-sister.

When Remus and Lily first met, Lily had been being picked on by some of the older Slytherins, and Remus came to her rescue. After that point, Remus had, in a sense, adopted Lily as his little sister. Lily was fine with this arrangement, it meant that there were less pranks pulled on her by the Marauders, and James laid off a bit on the annoying toe-raggish behavior. So then, when both were made prefects in their fifth year, their relationship grew even more.


	3. Chapter 3

_**(A/N) Disclaimer: I own no characters! I am merely borrowing characters to form my own idea of what happened BEFORE the books.**_

Gryffindor won the match, which was against Ravenclaw. It only lasted a few hours, so when it was over, James ordered the rest of the team to relax, and be ready for practice the next day. As a collective groan arose, he chuckled and called it off. Waiting outside the locker room were James' three best friends, as well as his girlfriend, who waved off her best friends, telling them to go on up to the castle.

James, who was glad but not surprised to see the crowd waiting for him, walked up to the castle with them, telling the pranksters to go ahead and go the the common room without him. He then pulled Lily down a few flights of stairs, taking her to the kitchens. Neither had eaten much breakfast, and they both had skipped lunch, the match went through dinner.

After getting enough food, the couple headed up to their "personal" common room. What awaited them, however, was quite a shock to both of them. There, just inside the portrait, was a floating flower. James, who recognized it as one of Padfoot's pranks, quickly pushed Lily behind him. What James hadn't bargained on, was the fact that this flower knew who it was supposed to attack, and wouldn't leave that person alone until they were attacked. It floated behind James and Lily, and began to squirt butterbeer all down Lily's back. Padfoot had gotten the idea after trailing behind James and Lily to a Muggle circus, where he saw clowns spraying people with water from little toy flowers.

Lily knew whose prank it was and was furious at first, but then began to laugh. She quickly went to change, coming out in one of her dresses that her mother had sent her for her seventeenth birthday. She also had on the watch that Remus had given her, the necklace that Sirius had given her, the ear rings that Peter had given her, and the charm bracelet that James had given her. Seeing his girlfriend's change of clothes, James quickly excused himself and changed into the tux he had from the Ball that Lily's parents held for Christmas.

When James returned, he found the common room a totally different atmosphere than he had left it in. Candles were lit and floating in the air, the lights were out, and there were a few other nice decorations. _Guess this'll be a real date._ James thought as he walked over to where Lily was adding a few last touches.

"Looks beautiful, Lils, but you're missing something." James quietly whispered.

"What?" Lily replied, looking around critically. Laughing when an ancient-looking record player appeared out of thin air and began playing the song that they first danced to: Broken Dreams and Mended Hearts.

"May I have this dance, _ma'am_?" James asked, a teasing glint in his eye as he offered his hand to the redheaded beauty. As the began to twirl around, both of the Head student's minds flashed back to the first school dance of the year.

_"Must we, Professor? I mean, really. I still can't figure out how _he _became Head Boy at all." Lily whined. To her, James was still an arrogant toe-rag who wasn't worthy to sweep the ground before Severus Snape. The relationship between Lily and Snape had been destroyed beyond repair, but James was no better in her eyes. She was determined to prove that fact to Professor McGonagall._

_Lily's arguing brought her no avail, however, and she was still required to have at least one dance (the first one) with James Potter. While Lily resigned herself to this fact, she was determined that James would know just how much she didn't want to do this. As James led her down to the Great Hall, she pretended to be happy with the arrangement._

_"Care to dance, Lils?" James had asked, rather arrogantly, to be rewarded with a contemptious scowl._

_"You do _not_ call me Lils. It is _Lily_ to you." Lily growled, too low for any of the passing adults to hear._

_"Yes, ma'am. May I have this dance, _ma'am_." James had lost all hint of pleasure, as he too, wore a scowl. Lily grudgingly agreed, and began to dance with him._

_At the end of the dance, Remus came up to rescue Lily. "Y'know, he's really not all that bad. He changed over the summer." Remus commented as Lily grumbled about the ring-leader of the Marauders. Lily muttered to herself, then let the subject drop._

The song slowly faded out along with the memory.

"What exactly did Remus say to change your mind about me, anyway, Lilyflower?" James' question was soft and curious, but not prying. He could see his girlfriend thinking out her answer before she gave it.

"It wasn't really Remus who changed my mind. He opened my eyes, but you are the one that changed my head. If you hadn't changed, it wouldn't have mattered how much Remus, Sirius or anyone tried to persuade me." Lily's answer was just as soft as the next song began to play.

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	4. Chapter 4

_**(A/N) Disclaimer: I own no characters! I am merely borrowing characters to form my own idea of what happened BEFORE the books.**_

The next morning, James quietly slipped into Lily's room again, with another vase of Easter lilies. He knew she would be a little annoyed about the night before, but nothing had happened, just as he promised. Still, he decided that the best thing would be to suck up for the day.

James was proven right within moments of Lily waking up. She hadn't slept well, and quickly remembered what had happened the day before to cause it.

_Lily was getting ready for bed after her impromptu date with James. Once she was completely ready, she slipped into bed and feigned sleep until she heard James slip in to kiss her good night. Feeling James' lips on her forehead about an hour later, Lily shuddered in her bed. James, thinking she was cold, put another blanket over her._

_When Lily was sure that James was gone, she slipped out of bed and curled up on the sofa out in the "living room" as they had dubbed the common room. Lying there, she heard a loud howl outside on the grounds. Lily knew the howl was the howl of a werewolf, and she knew that her love, brother, and their best friends were out there on the grounds. She quickly slipped out of the common room to head out to the grounds to warn James._

_When Lily reached the main doors to the castle, she opened them to see a magnificent stag standing on the steps, waiting to block her in. Further out on the lawn she saw a big, black dog waiting impatiently for the stag. Suddenly, Lily saw something on the stag that looked like James' birthmark._

_"James?" Lily asked, right before the stag pushed her inside. But before the doors closed, Lily glanced out and saw the werewolf lunge at the dog._

After that point, Lily's memory was blank. When she looked over at her nightstand and saw the second vase of lilies resting by the picture of her and James, she scowled and got out of bed. She had a boyfriend to hunt down.

"James Potter! What were you thinking last night? You had me scared half to death! What if something happened to you?" Lily was yelling at him when she found him in the Gryffindor common room five minutes later. She continued to rant and rave until James came over to her and kissed her gently on the lips.

Quietly leading Lily away, James exchanged a nervous glance with Sirius, which was not missed by the girl in question. As soon as James had Lily back into their own common room, she confronted him once more. By now, James had the sense to let her get it all out and not interupt her tirade. Towards the end of Lily's monolouge, James caught words like "stag, werewolf, dog" and knew they had been discovered.

When Lily finally finished ranting about her worry the night before, James explained what happened.

"Lily, there is no easy way to tell you this. Lily, Remus is a werewolf. It really isn't my place to tell you, but I have to if I'm going to explain anything else. When Sirius, Remus, Peter and I first became friends, we didn't know about Remus being a werewolf. When we finally discovered his secret, we tried to figure out everything we could to make his transformations a little easier. We couldn't be with him as humans, so we decided to try something stupid and dangerous. We decided to try to become animagi.

"The stag you saw last night was me, Lily. The dog was Sirius. Peter is a rat, so I doubt you saw him. We've been able to do this since our fifth year.

"Last night, Remus got loose from the Shrieking Shack, and Sirius and I were trying to round him back up. When the doors began to open, I panicked and headed to block whoever was there. When it was you, I thought I was going to go insane. You promised me you would stay in the castle! When you realized it was me, I tried to push you inside, hoping you wouldn't see Remus. I quickly transformed back into my human form to stun you and bring you back, but I couldn't bring myself to modify your memory." James finished his explanation and looked into Lily's eyes, wondering what she saw in his. He was telling her nothing but the truth, but sometimes if he became to passionate about something it came across as if he was lying.

"Wow, James. I had no idea about Remus. Or you three. And you know I would never break a promise unless I had a reason, right?" after James hesitantly nodded, Lily continued. "I wasn't asleep when you came in last night. I never am when you leave. After I was sure you left, I went out and laid down on the couch, and I heard a howl. I know now that it was Remus. I was terrified. I didn't know it was Remus, so as far as I knew, my boyfriend, brother and their two best friends were out on the grounds with a random werewolf. I was terrified for you, and wanted to warn you. That's why I went to go out on the grounds."

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	5. Chapter 5

_**(A/N) Disclaimer: I own no characters! I am merely borrowing characters to form my own idea of what happened BEFORE the books.**_

Remus was sitting quietly in the library, with his nose stuck in a book. _As usual. _Lily thought when she saw this. She walked up to him and gave him a gentle hug, easing herself into the chair next to him. Lily looked at the book her brother was reading, recognizing it at once as one they had often read together.

"It's okay, Remus. You're still my brother. I still love you." Lily's words were quiet, but they were honest and exactly what Remus needed to hear. He knew that James had told her everything that morning, there was no way he could have managed not to. Remus had seen the rage and fear on Lily's face when she had come into the common room at five o' clock that morning.

"Thank you, Lils. You have no idea how much it means to hear that. I love you too." Remus's voice was just as quiet as Lily's had been. The two sat in silence watching each other before Remus turned back to his book, breaking the eye contact. Lily realized that she was going to be late to a meeting with McGonagal if she didn't hurry, so she leaned down to give Remus a quick hug of encouragement before leaving.

After Lily left, Remus sighed with relief. It would have been too painful to bear if his sister could not accept what he was. He reflected over the hug she had given him before she left. It was the same kind of hug he had given her after the Snape episode in fifth year. It was the same hug he had given her every time she had been hurt. It was the first time she had a reason to give him that hug.

Lily rushed into the Transfiguration classroom, heading up to the office that belonged to Professor McGonagal. She quickly rapped on the door, awaiting permission to enter. When it was granted, Lily went in, appologizing at once for her rare tardiness. Glancing about, Lily took in the familiar surroundings. Lily also noticed that she was not the only tardy Head student. James, also, seemed to be running behind. Finally, Lily looked at her Deputy Headmistress.

"Ms. Evans." Minerva McGonagal's greeting was simple and slightly stern. She looked down on tardiness greatly, but this was her best behaved student, so she figured there must be a reason. She knew James was late because he was tending to his younger sister's emotional health. She had pardoned him from the meeting, planning on talking just to Lily for a time anyway.

"Ms. Evans," McGonagal began, "I am slightly concerned about your relationship with Mr. Potter. Its drastic change, while not disappointing, is slightly alarming. I wish for you to not misunderstand me, I'd rather this relationship than the old one, but the rapidity of the change worries me. What caused the change, if you do not mind me asking?" Lily did not think she had ever heard the woman more awkward in all her time at the school she now considered to be her home.

"I don't mind telling you, Professor. It actually shocks me when I look back. The first ball, if you recall, I dreaded the required dance with James, and as soon as possible, Remus came up to dance with me, knowing I did _not_ want to be with James a minute longer than I had to be. We talked for a while, and eventually Remus told me that James had changed over the summer. After he said that, I realized that James hadn't asked me out once since the new term began. I decided to see if James had really changed, or if Remus was just trying to make me feel better. When I was convinced that James had changed, I admitted to Remus that he was right. About a week later James asked me to be his date to the Christmas Ball." Lily explained what had occured almost the same way to her Transfiguration teacher that she had explained to Alice.

The "meeting" didn't last much longer, as the tasks originally at hand required both Head students, rather than just one. When Lily was dismissed, she headed back to the library, knowing that if Remus had really been sucked into his book, it would be a while before he left.

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	6. Chapter 6

James didn't know what to do. Amanda was his baby sister, but he didn't know how to handle her emotions. Her boyfriend had just broken up with her, and James's first instinct was to go jinx the guy. But Amanda Potter refused to allow him to do that. She kept muttering about how he was just scared, and he really was a sweet guy, they just didn't work out.

"Manda. The guy just broke up with you, your older brother is ready to go hex him, and you want him to be safe and out of harm. What is wrong with this picture?" James was at the end of his rope with this, but he couldn't leave his little sister like this.

James eventually dragged Amanda into the Head's common room. He knew Lily would be there or in the library. Seeing that his girlfriend was not there, James sent a patronus quickly to her, only saying that he needed some help and he was in the Head's rooms.

Lily and Remus were sitting in the library reading when a silvery-white stag came up and nudged Lily towards the door. Remus rose along with Lily, following her and the stag out. As soon as they were clear of the library, James's voice came from the stag, asking Lily to come help him.

Glancing at Remus to make sure he had no clue what was going on, Lily headed towards her personal common room, wondering what James needed help with. Remus followed her once again, walking quickly into the room when they reached the appropriate painting.

Both seventh years paused when they saw the scene laid out in front of them. Lily had to use all her might to not laugh at the disgruntled look on James's face. Remus took James aside while Lily took over Amanda. While Lily spent a while trying to get Amanda to calm down so that she could breathe, Remus spent that time trying to calm James so he wouldn't go hunting after the guy who did this to his sister.

As Amanda told Lily the story of what happened, Lily listened carefully, feeling slightly protective of Amanda, but also understanding why she didn't want her brother doing anything to Kyle. Lily tried to persuade both Amanda and James to meet in the middle. At this point, Remus had pulled out, wishing Lily luck, but wanting to get back to the common room _without_ James's cloak.

A few mornings later, Lily awoke to another new vase of flowers. Lily and James often went to breakfast separately, but for some reason, Lily was slightly disgruntled that he wasn't there that morning. She had had a nightmare the night before, and had been hoping he could calm the fear in her heart and remind her that it really was only a dream.

As if James had known that she would feel that way this particular morning, he had left another note on her door.

_Lilyflower,_

_I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I believe you had a dreadful nightmare last night. When I came in this morning, you were still thrashing around in your bed. I tried to wake you, but couldn't. I wanted to be here when you did wake up, but McGonagall wanted to see me about the meeting I missed._

_I love you, Lils._

_James_

Shocked about the fact that her nightmare had not been a secret, Lily's face pulled into a faint smile.


	7. Chapter 7

Lily found James in the Great Hall easily enough, but this time she didn't go right to him. She paused at the Slytherin table and glanced toward the man who used to be her best friend. The one who first told her about Hogwarts: Severus. Her face was impassive as she shuddered slightly when her eyes found him. To most onlookers, it would seem as a shudder of disgust. To James, who had just glanced towards the doors to see if Lily was there yet, knew it was a shudder of sadness and pity.

Lily did not miss Severus, so to speak. She was still furious with him for the way he had changed. What she did miss was the boy who used to come 'round and keep her company when Tuney quit on her. What Lily missed, was the boy who had created the fascination and longing for Hogwarts. Lily did not miss the new Severus, who called Muggle-borns Mudbloods, or the new Severus who did Dark Magic "for laughs". But she did miss her old friend.

When Lily finally snapped out of it, she hurried along to her own table, hoping that James would be able to slip out for a minute.

"I don't think it was much, just a nightmare I used to have when I was little. I think the only reason it scared me as much as it did was that I haven't had it since I was a little girl. Like before I met Snivillus. That's why it scared me so much." Lily tried to reason not only with her love, but also with herself as she spoke these words.

"If you're sure..." James wasn't convinced, but he knew better than to argue that day. He knew arguing would get him no where.

"I'm sure." Lily said this so forcefully, that James doubted even more that she wasn't still worried about the nightmare.

Classes went by slowly the next few weeks, and Lily's nightmare slipped from the forefront of her mind, as she focused more and more on her upcoming NEWTS. The classes were harder than ever, but she was still managing to keep up with school work, Head duties, and various social events.

The next Head meeting with Professor McGonagall included planning for the spring ball. Lily and James quickly plunged into the process, hardly allowing the Deputy Headmistress to review the limitations and vetoes placed on them. Lily wanted to do a Muggle theme, quickly convincing James to go with it, knowing he hated to wear dress robes any longer than he had to.

Lily's theme was quickly decided as the winner, so the two Head students began to elaborate on the details: what colors should the theme include what kind of motivation for going with this theme, etc. Eventually, Lily and James agreed that house colors would be best, but mix and match it a bit to show school pride as well, and a costume contest. The teachers willing would be judges, and McGonagall insisted James and Lily would be allowed to participate.


	8. Chapter 8

It was a quiet night. James was ready and waiting in the main room of the Head's quarters, watching Lily's bedroom door. Frank was standing next to him, also watching the door. Alice was in Lily's room, and they were helping each other get ready. Neither would tell their boyfriends what they were going to look like that night, so when they stepped out of Lily's room, both boys' jaws dropped.

Quickly recovering themselves, James and Frank took their girlfriends' hands and led them out. James and Lily had to leave the other couple behind, so that they could be in the Great Hall when everyone else arrived. They had a small speech to give, basically explaining the contest, who the judges are going to be, along with what they are looking for.

The couple entered into the Hall quietly, already knowing what it looked like for that night. The ceiling was the only mystery. The night was starry, which added to the affect of the general theme.

"Okay, so as you all know, the theme tonight was Muggle dress, along with House colors mixed and matched. James and I decided to make this part into a bit of a contest. A few of our wonderful professors have agreed to be judges tonight. Here is what they are looking at: how convincing you are as looking like a Muggle, how well you combined your House colors with another, and who looks best. There will be two winners per year: a boy and girl each." Lily's explanation was given after everyone was seated and had their fill of food. When she finished and sat down, Professor Dumbledore stood up to ask others to do so, quickly removing the majority of tables with a wave of his wand. He also had the music quickly start up, signaling for James and Lily to open the dancing with the first dance of their own.

As if planned (which it wasn't...by the Head Students, anyway) the first song Lily and James ever danced to, was the first song played that night. The couple began to move around the floor to Broken Dreams and Mended Hearts once again, both thinking about how drastically their relationship had changed in the past few months.

After about three dances, someone gently tapped on James's shoulder, asking to dance with Lily; James, seeing that it was just Remus, stepped aside, deciding to look for his little sister. Finding Amanda, James walked over to her and offered her his arm.

"Care to dance, Miss Potter?" While Amanda was immune to her brother's charm, she did acknowledge that he was simply trying to make the evening nice.

"Why yes, Mr. Potter, I would like to dance." Her charm was just as capturing as his, and they played their parts well, laughing at the end of the dance at the craziness of it all.

Meanwhile, Remus was surprised to find he got more than one dance with his own sister. They didn't talk much, Remus and Lily didn't need many words any more. They quietly moved across the floor to the music, Lily resting her head on Remus's shoulder, wishing that he really was her brother.

"Remus, why didn't you tell me? I'm not mad, so I really am sorry if it comes across that way, but I am curious." Lily's voice was quiet, and Remus knew that she wouldn't be upset if he said that he couldn't tell her.

"I'll tell you, Lily, but not here. I'll pick you up later and take you for a walk. We'll talk about it then. I promise." The tone in Remus's voice told Lily that he wasn't lying.

Sirius suddenly appeared at Remus's shoulder, asking to dance with Lily. When she was handed over, Sirius began to mess around with her. Lily knew he was only joking, and she did find it funny, but it was rather uncomfortable having her boyfriend's best mate flirting with her. It was hard not to laugh at his antics, even for James, who was watching from behind Lily.

Knowing that the biggest reason Lily would be uncomfortable in Sirius's arms was the flirting, James only waited one song to go and rescue her.


	9. Chapter 9

About a month after Easter (the weekend of the ball) all of the seventh years were cramming in last minute studies for their upcoming NEWTS. Everywhere you looked, there were students reading and copying notes furiously, even opening textbooks to study.

Lily, James, Alice and Frank were meeting up in the Head's common room to study for their NEWTS. They were the only ones who were taking the same ones as each other. Most of the Marauders had stuck together in their classes, but only two of them cared immensely what they got on the tests. Finally, Lily and Alice (who had instigated this most recent study session) decided it was time for a break.

Alice and Frank quickly left their friends' room, knowing that they would probably want some time alone. As Lily watched her best friend leave, she turned quietly to James, who was adjusting something, something that he was hiding from her. Lily sneaked up behind him, peering over his shoulder, trying to glimpse this "top secret" item. James, however, seemed to feel her looking and quickly tucked the mystery item under his robes. While Lily's curiosity was raging, she recognized that he didn't want her to know what he was doing just yet.

Lily wandered back into her bedroom, her mind going back to the walk Remus and her had taken after the ball.

_There was a quiet knock on her bedroom door. Lily knew it was one of two people. It was either James or Remus. Lily was fairly certain it would be Remus at her door at this point, seeing as James had fallen asleep quicker than usual, and she'd had to levitate him to bed that night._

_"Hey. You'll want to grab your cloak, Lils. We're going out to the lake tonight." Remus whispered when Lily opened her door, almost ready to leave. When she had her cloak on, the pair headed out, knowing they wouldn't get in trouble. There were no adults patrolling the grounds for another hour._

_"Did you have fun tonight, Remus?" Lily knew why they were out here, but she tried to at least start the conversation light. Remind him that he was still the same person to her. When Lily fully realized the prejudices against her, Remus and Alice were the only ones who knew how much she hurt. Remus always started out the heavy, consoling conversations with a gentle reminder that they were the same people they always had been._

_"Yeah, I enjoyed my dance with you the most though. But that isn't why we came out here. I promised you I'd explain myself. We've only got an hour. It took almost three when I explained everything to Padfoot and Prongs. But then again, they interrupt more than you do._

_"I was bitten as a young child. I'm just now beginning to realize how guilty my biter really was. When I first started transforming, I felt bad for the wolf that had bitten me. I didn't realize his ambition was to bite as many children as possible. After I was bitten, my family had to move every couple of years. We could never stay in one place for very long. We never thought I'd be able to come to Hogwarts, but when Dumbledore became headmaster, he allowed me to come. But he had to plant a vicious tree so that I could transform away from the school._

_"The Whomping Willow was placed there for me. There is a tunnel under it that leads to the Shrieking Shack. The place isn't haunted. The villagers hear _me._ Not an exceptionally loud ghost._

_"Hogwarts was the first place I ever had any friends. For the first year and a half, every student in the school believed my mother was sick every month. Nobody made the connection as to why until our second year, when we had to write an essay on werewolves. That's when James and Sirius figured it out. I didn't want to lose anyone. That's why I told no one."_

_When Remus finished, Lily stood there, shocked. Then she reached over and gave him another protective hug. The two of them stayed like that until Remus felt Lily shiver. For a May evening, it was very chilly, even with a light cloak on. He gently lead her back up to the castle, barely reaching the common room before teachers were due to begin patrolling. Remus slipped into James's room and grabbed the cloak and map, knowing it was the only way to get back without being seen._

_"Even Moony is staying out after curfew." James sat up grinning. "Get out of here before Lily gives you detention."_


	10. Chapter 10

"Mum, dad, this is Remus; my brother of sorts." Lily introduced Remus Lupin to her parents at the "graduation" ceremony at the end of her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Lily had told her parents quite a lot about her and Remus's friendship.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Evans." Remus directed this statement towards Lily's father only because her mother was still fawning over her and James. Remus and Lily's father fell into easy conversation as the evening drew on. When Lily noticed that Alice and Frank had hit a lull in their own conversation with parents, she brought them over to her parents.

Lily quickly pulled James to the side and gave him a small kiss, promising him more after the celebrations. The relationship between them had grown quickly, but both still had the values to not allow it to go too far.

"Lils," James started hesitantly. They were back in the common room, all packed up and ready to leave. James, however, had something he wanted to ask before they got back on the train. "Lils, will you come to my house next week? It'll be like a party for all of us for finishing school." It hadn't been what James had intended to ask, but for some reason, he changed his mind about what to ask.

"Sure. I'll have to ask my parents, of course, but I'd love to, and I highly doubt they'll disagree. They love you almost more than me. They definitely love you more than that dreadful walrus of a man, Vernon." Lily ended on a laugh.

The couple continued on in silence. It was almost time to leave when James conjured one last lily for Lily.

"You can't leave without a lily flower in your hair, Lilyflower." James reasoned, as he carefully placed the flower in Lily's neatly done hair.

Hand in hand, Lily and James walked out of their common room, and headed for the Gryffindor Common Room. They were to meet up with the remaining three Marauders, along with Alice and Frank to walk down to the train for the last time. The conversation was nonexistent for once. No jokes, no memories, no last minute gossip sessions were taking place that morning. The group had dry eyes, but they knew that once they left this building, they'd never have quite the same amount of protection. James, Lily, Frank and Alice all wanted to become Aurors, Remus was still trying to find out what position he could acquire with his condition, Sirius was still in a carefree state, and Peter, well, he was Peter. No one really knew what was going on in his mind.

By the time the group reached the train station, they all had a few signs of sadness in their eyes. Alice and Lily were openly crying, giving Hagrid huge hugs, along with other professors that had seen them down to the station. All the Marauders gave Hagrid thousands of thanks for going easy on them whenever they had to serve detentions with him. When they finally boarded the trains, Sirius was the only one who hadn't shed a tear. He knew he'd be back someday.

Stepping off the trains, Lily and James were the last to leave. They could see the outlines of their friends in the smoke, waiting for them, but they took their time checking the cabins. There didn't seem to be anyone, but James quietly uttered a spell at each compartment, hoping it would seem as if it didn't work.

When the couple finally finished checking for stray students, they hopped off, quickly going to their friends and planning different parties to celebrate finishing school. Lily knew that her parents hadn't been able to make it to the station; apparently, Petunia was loveable by people other than their parents, because she was marrying "that walrus of a man, Vernon."

James, when he learned that his girlfriend's parents weren't at the station, and hadn't given her a curfew, invited her to come with him to his house for a little while.


End file.
